This weekend was deer hunting season on Guemes Island. A friend of mine has ten acres, much of it working land, and she invited me over for a little pest control. Another friend and I eagerly went over to hunt. One of the things I love about hunting is the excuse to go sit in the woods before dawn. Deer and other big game are most active at dawn and dusk, so that is the best time to be in the woods. In fact, the…

Ken enjoys heavy weather sailing and after last weekends gale force winds, he was jonesin’ to get out on the water. Myself, I had a wonderful weekend at Watmough Bay and felt like a champ for reading the weather so well. At 8 PM on Saturday night, I checked the weather and saw NOAA was issuing a gale force warning for the next night. I quickly popped of my head out the hatch to revealed that all was calm on the water. It was still…

Those who have read older passages in my blog have probably seen me mention Charles Eisenstein and his book, Sacred Economics. That book was inspiring to me because of its clear, logical explanation on the connection between our economy and the sacred, spiritual aspects of our lives. Its concise explanation on how, exactly, the two parts of our culture are tied together. Although I agreed with about 95% of the book, I didn’t agree with everything. I felt he placed too much emphasis on an…

Wood on a boat can be a touchy subject. It seems as though every sailor has their own opinon about how much wood belongs on a boat, based on the (often conflicting) aspects of beauty, functionality, and maintenance. Solace has only a few pieces of teak above deck and a quite extensive teak interior. I love the rich wood interior, but abhor the maintenance required to keep the above-deck teak maintained. The hand rails running the length of my cabin make up forty percent of…

This article shows how to install a marine battery box in your boat according to coast guard regulations. Batteries… we all need them. In order to install them properly, it’s important to comply with coast guard regulations. I recently installed two Group 31 deep cycle AGM batteries on my 27 US Yacht sailboat, Solace. I was careful to comply with the coast guard regulations. Below is how I did it and how I recommend you do it too. As my sailboat has a pull-start outboard,…

This post discusses my inspirations to adopt a minimalist lifestyle and my financial plans for the future after my recent divorce. I reflect on the past, the future, and the present. Reflections on the Economic Past I’m in the middle of reading Snow Falling on Cedars which is a historical fiction based on San Juan Island. The people back in that era had so little, and had to work so hard for it. In a way, it makes me feel spoiled and petty considering all…

I haven’t done much writing lately because I haven’t spent as much time on the water. As I write this, I sit on the Aggada Da Vida watching the sun come up over Lopez Sound. The quite, the solitude, and the beauty are what give me the inspiration to write. It is the serenity that I find out here which gives meaning to my life. It is this solace that I long for, like an addict looking for a ‘fix’, every time I return to…

I recently read a very inspiring book called Walden on Wheels. Not only was this some of the best writing I’ve ever read, the author truly gave a voice to the struggles of my generation (people now in their 20s and 30s) while simultaneously giving me an excuse to laugh my ass off about all these ‘serious’ problems. The basic premise of the book is about a guy who simultaneously discovered his love of nature while struggling to pay off his student loans and dealing…

As my brother and I pulled up to our final destination near Delta Junction, Alaska, we heard a sickening grinding sound coming from the back of the truck. He immediately put it in park and we jumped out to investigate. The bumper had fallen off. We drove 2500 miles, across some of the nastiest highway in North America, and the bumper fell off in the last 10 feet. Our entire trip was blessed with oddly lucky events like this. Like everyone who road trips to…

In a few days my brother and I will be setting off on a road trip of over 2000 miles from Portland, Oregon to Anchorage, Alaska. This will be my first journey into that wild frontier, despite feeling a strong attraction pulling me towards Alaska since I was a kid. I’ve always held off from going there. From the stories people told me, and knowing my own deep love of nature, I feared that I would fall in love and never want to come back….